The Dove and the Serpent: So in Love with You
by thesituation016
Summary: PT:2 Vanessa better know as the Dove is entering the next phase in her life helping her father become a hero himself while enjoying her budding relationship with Loki.(Has been rewritten.)
1. Chapter 1

Vanessa sat curled up in the seat of the jet starring unseeingly out the window. Pepper had come and gotten her. She had stayed with Vanessa for two weeks after she learned of her father's disappearance at the school. She had been too unstable to move before hand, being prone to episodes of telekinetic outbursts.

Loki had helped a lot spending every night holding her and giving her comforting words. He was keeping her stable, keeping her from falling apart. He had wanted to come down in person, but he just wasn't able. In her arms she clutched her journal close to her heart thinking over everything.

"Vanessa." Pepper said softly as she sat down next to her. Vanessa didn't say anything, curling up a little tighter. Pepper didn't know what to say so the just pulled Vanessa into a hug which she gratefully accepted.

They didn't speak the entire plane ride and as soon as it landed they were attacked by reporters from every angle as they tried to get to their car. Vanessa was getting angry and in a subtle release of her power a way opened up in front of them as reporters 'tripped' away and they made it to the car without further incident. Pepper called ahead and made sure that the house was clear even going so far as to set the sprinklers on them before the police got there.

That night found Vanessa unable to sleep as she starred up at the ceiling of her room still crying. She had tried to make contact with some of the other telepaths she knew, but could reach none of them, not that they'd be able to help her anyway. Only the Professor had been strong enough to use Cyrebro properly. She kicked her covers off and got out of bed.

"Is there anything I can do for you Vanessa?" JARVIS asked softly.

"No." Vanessa said emotionlessly. She walked out of her room down the hall and into her father's room. The lights turned on instantly and on his bed she saw one of his favorite ACDC shirts.

She walked over and picked it up pressing her face into it a she inhaled his scent, a mix of motor oil and sandalwood. She climbed into bed holding his shirt to her chest and curling up into a tight ball. The lights turned off as she laid there tears streaming down her face hugging the shirt to her as tightly as she could.

She spent every night in his room and refused to leave the house for anything. She had JARVIS on full alert only allowing Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy into the house anyone else fell to JARVIS's interesting methods of pest removal. Everyone wanted to know if she would take over for her father and other such things.

Her friends from school came to visit for a while, but had to return home. They did everything to try and cheer her up, but nothing pulled her out of her depression. When she was able to fall asleep Loki was always there waiting for her. He had managed to come to visit her in person as well, but even he wasn't able to bring her out of her sadness. He would hold her in his arms stroking her hair as he talked softly to her, but eventually he had to return home before he was missed. Reed, Sue, Ben, Alicia, and Johnny Storm were doing everything they could to help as did Johnny Blaze, Peter, and Matt, but nothing could bring her out of it.

Vanessa rolled out of her dad's bed groaning at the prospect of another day knowing that the others would want her to come out of the house. She walked to her room and into her bathroom taking a brief shower then pulled on a black off the shoulder tight sleeved black sweater and a pair of jeans. She put her wet hair into a messy bun to get it out of her way.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror and looked at the bags under her eyes. She could never stay asleep for long, only ever finding peace when Loki was there. Pepper had made sure that she ate regularly or she would have wasted away to nothing.

"Vanessa you are receiving a call from Rhodey." JARVIS said.

"Put him through." Vanessa said as she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her socks on.

"Hey kiddo, miss me?" Vanessa froze her eyes going wide.

"Dad?" Vanessa said quietly then started to sob. "Oh my…dad is that…dad…"

"Hey calm down, I'm ok. I'm on my way home now." Tony said gently.

"I thought…they told me…" Vanessa said covering her mouth with her hands.

"Well I'm not and I'll be landing at the airfield soon. Pepper and Happy are on their way to pick you up now, Rhodey called them." Tony said then paused for a moment before continuing. "I missed you."

"I missed you to dad. I love you so much." Vanessa said as she ran and pulled her boots on.

"I love you to Vanessa." Tony said before he had to hang up. Vanessa ran down the hall and outside to where Happy was pulling into the drive way. She didn't even wait for him to slow down before she jumped into the back seat.

"I don't care how many laws you break Happy, get us there now." Vanessa said urgently.

"I'm on it." Happy said slamming down on the gas and peeling out of the drive way.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanessa and Pepper gripped tightly to each other's hands causing them to go numb not that they cared as they watched the plane land and the back open up. Their hearts sped up beating widely in their chests as the back of the plane opened up revealing Tony being helped up by Rhodey.

"Watch it, coming up here." Rhodey said as he helped Tony down out of the back of the plane as a medical team came up with a stretcher.

"Are you kidding me with this?" Tony said waving them away. "Get rid of them."

Vanessa couldn't take it anymore. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around Tony who hugged her back pulling her close. Happy tears streaming down her face soaking his jacket as he rubbed her back.

"I thought I lost you." Vanessa said as they clung to each other.

"Well you didn't." He replied as he kissed the top of her head, his own eyes wet with tears. They walked the rest of the way over to Pepper keeping their arms around each other. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." Pepper said with a smile.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Tony said as they all piled into the car, Vanessa sitting between Pepper and Tony. Tony wrapped his arm around her holding her close to his side.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper said.

"No." Tony said shaking his head.

"No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital. The doctor has to look at you." Pepper said sternly.

"I don't have to do anything." Tony said bristling a little. "I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other..."

"That's enough of that." Pepper cut him off.

"...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." Tony continued.

"Call for a press conference?" Vanessa asked looking up at him in confusion.

"Yeah." Tony said nodding his head.

"What on earth for?" Pepper asked.

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first." Tony ordered as they took off.


	3. Chapter 3

"Look at this! Tony." Obadiah said as he walked up to the car. Tony stepped out eating a cheeseburger as Obadiah put his arm around him. "We were going to meet at the hospital."

"No, I'm fine." Tony said waving him off as he took Vanessa's hand in his refusing to let go. His grip was almost painful, but Vanessa was clinging to him just as tightly.

"Look at you!" Obadiah kept saying. "You had to have a burger, yeah?"

"Priorities." Vanessa said with a smile having made Pepper extremely happy when she had eaten a cheeseburger of her own free will.

"Well, come on." Tony said as he made his way to the building through the clapping crowd.

"You get me one of those?" Obadiah asked motioning to the cheeseburger.

"There's only one left. I need it." Tony replied tugging Vanessa along with him as they entered the building and walked into the press room. He finally had to let her go and walked to the front sending her smile over his shoulder. She stayed in the back with Pepper watching the going on's.

"Hey, look who's here! Yeah!" Obadiah said as he stepped up onto the stage.

"Miss Potts?" A very familiar voice said.

"Yes." Pepper said turning around to face the Agent.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked sending Vanessa a quick smile.

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." Pepper said motioning to the front.

"He's not a reporter." Vanessa said crossing her arms giving him an amused smile. "He's agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"That's quite a mouthful." Pepper said shooting Vanessa a confused look wondering how she knew this man.

"I know." Phil said still smiling. "We're working on it."

"And you two know each other?" Pepper asked looking between Vanessa and Phil.

"His…organization has invested its interest in the Xavier Institute." Vanessa said with shrug.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." Pepper listed off.

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus." Phil cut her off. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" Pepper said with a tight smile sensing Vanessa's discomfort.

"Thank you." Phil said as Pepper turned back to the press conference.

"What are you really doing here?" Vanessa asked with a curious look at the agent making sure that Pepper couldn't hear.

"You're father escaped from a terrorist camp all by himself with little to no injuries." Phil said still smirking. "We need to know how."

Vanessa looked him in the eye before nodding briefly and turning back to where her father was sitting in front of the podium. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony said and everyone slowly sat to the ground shooting confused looks all around. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..."

"What's up with the love-in?" Rhodey asked coming up behind Vanessa and Pepper.

"Don't look at me." Pepper said with a shrug. Rhodey looked over to Vanessa.

"I don't know what he's up to either." Vanessa said with a shrug.

"Good to see you." Tony said looking over to Obadiah.

"Good to see you." Obadiah replied putting hand on his shoulder.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad." Tony said and Vanessa felt her heart clench at the very thought that had been running through her head for the past three months. "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

"Mr. Stark!" The reporters called out.

"Hey, Ben." Tony said pointing to a young man in the front.

"What happened over there?" Ben asked.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." Tony said as he began to stand up. "And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." The crowd erupted in questions and yells. Vanessa, Pepper, and Rhodey exchanged shocked looks at the announcement. "I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

The crowd started to shoot off questions as Obadiah took the mike and Tony walked away grabbing Vanessa's hand again as he walked by.

"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back!" Obadiah said trying to cover up. "And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."

"Obadiah's not going to like this." Vanessa said as they got back into the car and Tony told Happy to drive to the Arc Reactor. They got out of the car and walked inside looking up at the reactor. "So you're being especially cryptic as you bring me out here to the largest eco-friendly battery known to mankind."

"Vanessa, I'm planning something big and I'm going to need your help." Tony said as he un-buttoned his shirt and showed her the mini Arc Reactor.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Vanessa said in shock.

"Yeah." Tony said and explained how he came about making it as he buttoned his shirt back up.

"Holy crap." Vanessa breathed out. "What are you planning?"

"Well, that... That went well." Obadiah said as he walked in interrupting them before he could explain.

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Tony asked.

"Your head? What about my head?" Obadiah asked before turning to Vanessa. "I need to talk to your dad for a bit, can you give us a moment?"

"Sure, I'll go and hang out with Happy." Vanessa said as she walked out after giving her dad a quick hug before giving Obadiah fake stern look. "You better not kill him Obi, I just go him back."

Obadiah chuckled a little and watched her until she was out the door.

"What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?" Obadiah asked getting straight back on point.

"Optimistically, 40 points." Tony said.

"At minimum." Obadiah said.

"Yep." Tony replied.

"Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer." Obadiah argued.

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." Tony shot back.

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons." Obadiah said in frustration.

"It's my name on the side of the building." Tony said.

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah continued.

"Not based on what I saw." Tony bit out. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Obadiah snapped.

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." Tony answered looking up at the machine.

"Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!" Obadiah said gesturing to the massive machine. "Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works." Tony said.

"Yeah, as a science project." Obadiah said. "The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"

"Maybe." Tony said evasively.

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what?" Obadiah pressed. "Thirty years."

"That's what they say." Tony said before looking straight into Obadiah's face. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"

"Never mind who told me. Show me." Obadiah ordered.

"It's Rhodey or Pepper." Tony said. "I only just told Vanessa so it wasn't her, who was it?"

"I want to see it." Obadiah pressed.

"Okay, Rhodey." Tony said unbuttoning his shirt and showing it to Obadiah.

"Okay." Obadiah said with a smile as he buttoned the shirt back up.

"Okay?" Tony said with a raised eyebrow. "It works."

"Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand?" Obadiah said a gleam in his eye. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay?" Tony said feeling a slight bit of guilt. "But if I had..."

"Tony." Obadiah cut him off. "Tony, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business. You understand me?"

"That was Dad's line." Tony grumbled.

"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah said. "We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."


	4. Chapter 4

Vanessa walked down to her dad's workshop a computer pad in her hand. It had been about three days since he had gotten home and they had started on his project. Apparently he had ideas on improving what had helped him get out of imprisonment and wanted to get started right away which meant Vanessa was on buying discreetly duty.

"Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad and one of me and Nessa. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff." She heard Tony saying as Pepper came walking over to her with her hands held up in front of her.

"Pepper? What's that smell?" Vanessa asked causing Tony to let out a bark of laughter. She looked down and saw what was in Pepper's hand and what was covering them that was currently slipping down her arms. "Oh…ew."

"I'm going back upstairs." Pepper said in an annoyed voice walking past her.

"So did you get the stuff?" Tony asked as she walked over.

"Most of it, should be here tomorrow morning." Vanessa said showing him the checklist.

"Great." Tony said rubbing his hands together like a child at Christmas.

"Did you really have Pepper change out your reactor?" Vanessa asked sitting down in a swivel chair.

"Well you weren't here and I needed someone with small hands." Tony said as he started to tinker with designs.

"That must have been funny." Vanessa said as she twirled in the chair.

"I got zapped twice and went into cardiac arrest." Tony deadpanned.

"See, I miss all the good stuff." Vanessa said slowly coming to a stop.

"Your concern is touching." Tony muttered. "I'm going to go visit Rhodey, want to come?"

"No thanks, I'm good." Vanessa said hoping up. "I still have a few more things to order through different channels in order to keep this secret."

"I am both amazed and concerned about how you know how to do this." Tony said as he started to walk up stairs.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." Vanessa replied following him up stairs. "You think Rhodey will want in on this? Last I checked he was still miffed about the no more weapons thing."

"Of course he will." Tony said as he went to his room. Vanessa didn't feel so sure about that, but shrugged off plopping onto the couch and finished up her buying. She had just finished and picked up a book when Tony came back down dressed. "Catch you later kid."

"Drive recklessly." Vanessa replied not even looking up from her book.

-0-

Vanessa was sitting on the couch still reading when she heard her dad pull up into the front driveway. He walked into the house and straight over to her.

"So is Rhodey coming?" Vanessa asked again not looking up from her book once again.

"Nope." Tony said grabbing her book and throwing it on the coffee table ignoring her protests. "Come on, we got work to do."

"I'll make coffee." Vanessa said with a world weary sigh as he pulled her down to the work room basement.

"Jarvis, you up?" Tony said as he sat down in front of his console of computers.

"For you, sir, always." JARVIS replied. "I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two."

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?" JARVIS asked.

"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now." Tony said as he messed around with files until he found the one he wanted. Vanessa stood looking over his shoulder as he worked. "Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"

"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" JARVIS asked.

"I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands." Tony said as he pulled up a holographic image of a suit and started to pick it apart. "Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good."

"That's how you escaped?" Vanessa asked looking over the suit.

"Yep." Tony said with a nod.

"Wow, all that came together in a hole in the ground." Vanessa said standing up straight and crossing her arms. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

"You're confidence is overwhelming." Tony said with a role of his eyes. He started to work on the leg jets with the help of Dummy while Vanessa made plans for the next part of the suit on the holographic projector. "Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here. You got me? Stay put. Nice."

"I'm making a targeting system that can determine between threat and victim." Vanessa said as she worked. "What think you?"

"Good." Tony said then looked thoughtful. "I want some things that have a great impact, but they need to fit in a sleek suit."

"I think I can come up with a few interesting things." Vanessa replied with a smile.

"Awesome." Tony said then grumbled at Dummy. "You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this. Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it. Don't even move. You are a tragedy."

"Be nice." Vanessa said not looking away from her work. Tony didn't reply, but continued to grumbled as he finished up. He slipped into the metal boots that hooked up to his reactor and stood in the middle of the room.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter and back and center." Tony said the turned to Dummy. "Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. You, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift."

"Dad, I think you need start lower than ten." Vanessa said as she looked over the information.

"I'll be fine." Tony said as he braced himself.

"You're going to hurt yourself." Vanessa said, but he of course ignored her.

"And three, two, one." He went flying backwards into a wall then slammed into the ground with a thud followed by Dummy using the fire extinguisher on him.

"Dad?!" Vanessa yelled as she ran over to him shooing Dummy away. "Are you ok?"

"You could have caught me you know." Tony grumbled causing Vanessa to roll her eyes and walked away. "Hey, I'm still down here…Vanessa…hello?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Hold still." Vanessa snapped as she fit the arm stabilizers onto him. "You're worse than a toddler."

"Hurry up." Tony groused.

"Quit fidgeting and maybe I could." Vanessa snapped harder. He finally managed to hold still long enough for her to snap it on. "There, almost done."

"Up two." Tony said as he lifted his arm. "All right, set that."

"Got it." Vanessa said making sure everything was secure.

"I've been buzzing you." Pepper said as she walked in carrying a mail, a brown box, and coffee. "Did you hear the intercom?"

"Yeah, everything's... What?" Tony said distractedly.

"Obadiah's upstairs." Pepper said.

"Did he bring Pizza?" Vanessa asked and Pepper nodded.

"Great!" Tony replied.

"What would you like me to tell him?" Pepper asked.

"Great. I'll be right up." Tony said not really paying attention.

"Okay." Pepper said then noticed what he was doing. "I thought you said you were done making weapons."

"It's not a weapon." Vanessa said stepping back next to Pepper.

"This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." Tony said as he aimed it at the opposite wall.

"Ok, take it slow this…" Before Vanessa got a chance to finish he fired it up and the kick back sent him into the wall behind him. "…time."

"I didn't expect that." Tony said with a shocked groan. Vanessa rolled her eyes before turning and going upstairs followed by Pepper to eat grumbling under her breath.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Nessa." Obadiah said from the piano.

"Hey Obi." Vanessa said as she walked over giving him a quick hug before moving over to the pizza and grabbing a few slices before sitting down next to Pepper.

"How'd it go?" Tony asked as he came up then saw the pizza. "It went that bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad." Obadiah said continuing to play.

"Sure doesn't." Tony said as he sat down on the couch next to Vanessa. "Oh, boy."

"It would have gone better if you were there." Obadiah said walking over to them.

"You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing." Tony defended himself. "I lay low, and you take care of all..."

"Hey, come on. In public. The press." Obadiah admonished him. "This was a board of directors meeting."

"This was a board of directors meeting?" Tony said in fake shock.

"I had no idea." Vanessa said in a Gir voice as she munched on another slice of pizza.

"The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress." Obadiah said heavily. "They're filing an injunction.

"A what?" Vanessa said sitting up straight.

"They want to lock you out." Obadiah said looking directly at Tony.

"Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points?" Tony asked. "We knew that was gonna happen."

"Fifty-six and a half." Pepper said and Vanessa let out a low whistle.

"It doesn't matter." Tony said shooting her look. "We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too." Obadiah said in an exhausted voice. "They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me…" Realizing what he said Tony tried to cover. "for the company. I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that... This is great."

"Oh, come on. Tony." Obadiah said as Tony got up with the pizza and started to walk back down to the shop. "Tony."

"Come on Nessa, break times over." Tony called out to her over his shoulder. Groaning Vanessa got back to her feet.

"There are laws against this kind of over working." Vanessa grumbled as she pulled herself up from the couch with a groan. He had been at this project almost non-stop since they had started and of course had dragged her along for the ride.

"Come on whiner." Tony said grabbing her hand and pulling her along. "We'll be in the shop."

"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony." Obadiah said as he walked up to them. "Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something."

"Like…?" Vanessa prompted.

"Something to pitch them." Obadiah said giving a significant look at Tony's arc reactor. "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."

"No." Tony said shaking his head. "No, absolutely not."

"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!" Obadiah said.

"This one stays with me." Tony said. "That's it, Obie. Forget it."

"All right, well, this stays with me, then." Obadiah said taking the pizza box back. "Go on, here, you can have a piece, take two."

"Thank you." Tony said taking some pizza to go as he walked down the stairs with Vanessa.

"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" Obadiah called out to them.

"Good night, Obie." They said together of their shoulders.


	7. Chapter 7

Vanessa and Loki slowly circled each other waiting for an opportunity to strike. Ever since Alcatraz Loki insisted on teaching more advanced fighting methods. She was coming along quite nicely.

Loki lunged at her and the dodged then the dance really began each trying to bring the other down. Loki tried to hook her legs, but she managed to roll out of the way. She threw a few punches, but Loki caught on of her hands and whirled her around so her back was pressed to his chest.

"You're getting better." He said his breath tickling her neck as his lips glided across her skin.

She reached back squeezing his side causing him to loosen his grip with a yelp. She slipped out grabbing his arm as she spun behind him pinning his arm against his back then swiped his legs out from under him so he was face down on the ground.

"Thanks, I had a good teacher." Vanessa said letting her lips brush his ear. Loki flipped them over to her arms were pinned over her head and he was straddling her.

"Very good indeed." He said with a smirk as he leaned down and kissed her slowly and deeply, lingering quite a while before standing to his feet and pulling her up with him. "I think five sparring lessons are enough for one night."

"You're just saying that because you knew I was about to turn the tables on you." Vanessa said as they sat down beneath a tall tree.

"You caught me." Loki said in a fake guilty voice as he fell over so his head was resting in her lap. "You're just too strong for me."

"You are such a dork." Vanessa said with a laugh as she started to run her hand through his hair.

"That may be, but I'm your dork." Loki muttered, enjoying the feeling of her hands running through his hair.

"And don't you forget it." Vanessa said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Loki said. "So how is your father doing?"

"Really well." Vanessa said then explained the suit they were making. "I think he wants to be a superhero or something."

"With your father's ego I would not be surprised." Loki said then yelped when Vanessa thumped him on the head.

"Hey don't talk about my dad like that." Vanessa said in a fake stern voice.

"You're the one that told me about his ego." Loki defended himself.

"Well I can say stuff like that, he's my dysfunctional dad." Vanessa said with a smirk as Loki let out a soft chuckle. "So when are you coming for another visit?"

"Soon little dove, very soon." Loki said taking her hand and kissing her palm.

"I have something for you." Vanessa said with a smile. "But unlike you I have to wait for you to come to me, so as an added incentive to come for a visit as soon as you can."

"You are all the incentive I need." Loki replied running his hand up her arm behind her neck making her skin tingle and gently tugging her down for a deep kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety. If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." Tony said sternly as he stood in the middle of the room stabilizers ready.

"Don't listen to him D, I would never let him do that." Vanessa said with a smile as she typed away on the computer.

"Traitor." Tony grumbled before getting ready. "All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity."

"That's right, he can be taught." Vanessa said triumphantly pumping her fist into the air. Tony stuck his tongue out as her before getting back to work.

"And three, two, one." He hovered above the ground by a few inched for a while before landing again. "Okay. Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously."

"Just stand down D! If something happens, then come in." Vanessa said typing into the computer. "Ready for part two?"

"Yeah, let's bring it up to 2.5." Tony said and Vanessa nodded. "Three, two, one."

He rose into the air the thrusters going and he started to move around the room scattering papers and generally causing a mess. Then he started toward the cars, the really expensive cars and Vanessa's favorite bike.

"Dad, not the bike!" Vanessa said as her hands gripped her head on either side.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be!" Tony said as he made strange negative noises as he flew over the vehicles, luckily he missed her bike. "Not the car, not the car! Table!"

"Use the stabilizers." Vanessa yelled and Tony threw his hands up before he ran into the wall and came back to the mat.

"Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay." Tony said and finally he brought his legs together and locked his hand palm down at his sides stabilizing himself. The he descended and landed almost falling over before he steadied himself. "Yeah, I can fly."

"Now what?" Vanessa asked and Tony smiled over at her and she could feel a head ache coming on. "Oh boy." She watched as he got suited up in the silver armor while she typed in the information and protocols into the system. "JARVIS should now automatically sync up to the suit."

"Jarvis, are you there?" Tony asked as he put the final piece, the mask plate, on.

"At your service, sir." JARVIS said.

"Engaging Heads Up Display." Vanessa said typing in the comand.

"Check." Tony replied holding a thumbs up. "Import all preferences from home interface."

"Will do." Vanessa said as she typed.

"All right, what do you say?" Tony said eagerly.

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir." JARVIS confirmed. "We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?" Tony asked.

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment." Vanessa said with a nod, her fingers flying.

"Do a check on control surfaces." Tony told JARVIS

"As you wish." The test downloaded. "Test complete." JARVIS said. "Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check." Tony said making Vanessa's head snap up.

"Dad." She said warningly.

"Start listening in on ground control." Tony kept on.

"Dad." Vanessa said a little more sternly. "What you are currently thinking of doing is a very bad idea."

"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is..." JARVIS started to say.

"Vanessa! Jarvis! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk." Tony said as Vanessa ran her hands through her hair which was starting to look messy.

"Fine." Vanessa said and really got to work and took an earpiece putting it into her ear.

"Ready?" Tony asked.

"Let's make it happen captain." Vanessa replied finishing her typing with a flourish.

"In three, two, one." Tony hovered for a moment then rocketed down the tunnel and up into the air. "WWWWHHHHHOOOOOOO! Handles like a dream."

"Of course it does, I helped make it." Vanessa said as she watched the screens like she was in first person view. His wild flying was kind of making her dizzy.

"All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?" Tony asked.

"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir." JARVIS answered.

"I would say this is a horrible idea, but really, what's the use." Vanessa shook her head as she watched him.

"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" Tony said as he climbed.

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring." JARVIS warned.

"Keep going!" Tony ordered.

"Dad, come back down, you'll short out if you don't." Vanessa ordered into her comm.

"Higher!" Tony said once again ignoring her then he cut out.

"Dad? DAD!" Vanessa said as she furiously tapped on the computer.

"We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps! Jarvis!" Tony yelled. "Come on, we got to break the ice!"

He manually deployed the flaps and managed to reboot almost running into cars on the high way as he flew back up into the air.

"Dad." Vanessa called out.

"I'm here, I'm fine." Tony said with a laugh.

"You're a freaking idiot, that's what you are." Vanessa snapped falling back in her chair. "Hurry up and get home."

"On my way." Tony said still laughing. "Kill power."

Vanessa heard a series of thuds until her dad crashed through the ceiling landing on a car reducing it to scrap. She sat there in shock for a moment as dummy sprayed him down. Shaking her head she took her ear piece out and began to walk upstairs.

"I'm going now." Vanessa said. "I have plans for tonight that don't involve scraping you off the cement." Tony watched her do before his head fell back against the car. "You missed a spot D."

"Don't you…" Tony started, but Dummy sprayed Tony down once again and Tony could hear Vanessa laughing as she went up the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Vanessa listened as she descended back down the stairs to check on her dad after she finished getting ready for the night.

"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor." Tony listed off.

"A very astute observation, sir." JARVIS said. "Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."

"Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio." Vanessa said with a smile as she walked into the basement. Her dad did a double take and Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Got it?"

"Yes, yeah, I mean that's what I was about to say." Tony said looking slightly confused at her apparel.

Vanessa wore an elegant emerald green color sweetheart fit and flare appliques front slit mermaid style evening gown. She also wore a pair of diamond studs, her dove necklace, her charm bracelet, and a pair of silver strappy high heels.

She left her hair completely loose parted in the middle and it hung down to her hips ending in loose curls. Her make-up was light and smoky making her eyes pop with a touch of shimmering lip gloss to complete her look.

"Shall I render using proposed specifications?" JARVIS asked.

"Thrill me." Tony said before turning back to Vanessa. "You got a date tonight or something?"

"Or something." Vanessa said motioning to the TV as she walked over to stand behind him.

"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society." The reporter on the TV said.

"Jarvis, we get an invite for that?" Tony asked.

"I have no record of an invitation, sir." JARVIS replied.

"But you got one?" Tony asked looking at her.

"Yep, and I'm going to be late." Vanessa said kissing the top of his head. "Try not to burn the house down while I'm gone."

"I promise nothing." Tony replied as Vanessa walked over and got into the Saleen S7 and took off. Tony turned back to the TV as he tinkered.

"... hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight."

"The render is complete." JARVIS said and a completely gold iron man suit was displayed on the screen.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" Tony said as he took a drink.

"What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet." JARVIS said as Tony looked over to his Hot Rod.

"Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there." Tony said.

"Yes, that should help you keep a low profile." JARVIS said as he re painted it. "The render is complete."

"Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it." Tony said.

"Commencing automated assembly." JARVIS said as Tony looked down at his watch. "Estimated completion time is five hours."

"Don't wait up for me, honey." Tony said as he got up and went upstairs to change.


	10. Chapter 10

Vanessa stopped in front of the building and the door to her car was opened for her. She handed the valet the keys and started to walk inside as she was bombarded with flashed of light and questions. The questions consisted of information about the company, what she was wearing, and about her dad, none of which she answered.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone's arm slide around her waist. Looking up she found Loki wearing a dark dress suit with an emerald green scarf hung casually on either side of his neck smiling down at her.

"Loki." Vanessa said in surprise ignoring the new round of questions on who her mysterious date was.

"Hello little dove, you look beautiful." Loki said as he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.

"You don't look too bad yourself." Vanessa said with a smile as they walked the rest of the way up to the party. "So what brings you to my little corner of the universe?"

"The idea of this party appealed to me greatly when you told it to me." Loki said moving his hand down so it entwined with hers as they walked through the crowd. "I like any chance to dance with you and hold you close."

"Charmer." Vanessa said as they started to lean into each other for a kiss.

"Vanessa, who's this?" Pepper asked as she came over breaking the moment and going into what Vanessa had dubbed her mom mode.

"This is Loki, my boyfriend from school." Vanessa said introducing him. She had told Pepper a little about him keeping the fact that he was from another planet mum. "Loki this is Pepper."

"An honor." Loki said as he bowed lightly. "Vanessa has told me a lot about you."

"Vanessa has talked about you as well." Pepper said with a bright smile. "It's nice to finally meet you."

They talked amongst themselves, Pepper mostly vetting Loki who was holding up remarkably well when they were interrupted.

"You look fantastic! I didn't recognize you." Tony said walking up to them.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper asked, surprised to see him.

"Just avoiding government agents." Tony answered. Vanessa looked around and spotted none other than gent Coulson at the bar watching them.

"Are you by yourself?" Pepper asked.

"Yes." Tony said as he looked her over. "Where'd you get that dress?"

"Oh, it was a birthday present." Pepper answered.

"That's great." Tony said.

"From you, actually." Pepper said.

"Well, I got great taste." Tony said before turning to Vanessa and Loki. "So who's this?"

"Dad, this is my boyfriend Loki, Loki this is dad." Vanessa said as they shook hands.

"Boyfriend huh?" Tony said looking him over. "What do you do for a living?"

"Independently wealthy." Loki answered smoothly.

"Ok." Tony said before turning back to Pepper while making a mental note to look him up later. "You want to dance?"

"Oh, no." Pepper said shaking his head.

"All right, come on." Tony said as he pulled her onto the dance floor despite her protests.

"You were right, they are oblivious." Loki said as they watched them walkaway.

"Yeah." Vanessa said as Loki took one of her hands and led her onto the dance floor pulling her close as they swayed. They danced for a little before Vanessa spoke again. "I'm glad you came, I can give you that gift now. Come with me."

"You did not have to get me anything little Dove." Loki said as Vanessa led him over to the balcony hands intertwined into the warm night air. They stopped at the edge looking as the cityscape before them.

"Then it is a good thing I got it for you because I wanted to and not because I had to." Vanessa said as she pulled out a small black box and gave it to him.

Opening it up he found resting on a velvet cloth was a gold oval locket with the engraving of a snake surrounding a dove and on the inside was a picture of Loki and Vanessa smiling together on one side and a clear frame on the other with a lock of hair tied with small green and blue ribbons.

"Vanessa this is…" Loki began gently picking it up and setting the box aside. A gift like this was very intimate in his culture, a sign of deep devotion. He looked into her eyes as she looked up at him her eyes full of love. "This is perfect. Thank you."

"I hoped you like it." Vanessa said as he slipped it round his neck allowing it to rest over his heart.

"I love it and I love you." He said as he pulled her into a deep kiss which she happily returned. "I believe we have a dance to finish." Loki pulled her back onto the dance floor holding her close his hand on her lower back gently caressing it sending warmth throughout her whole body.

"I love you as well." Vanessa replied resting her head on his shoulder as he laid his softly on top of her head. They danced slowly enjoying just being near one another talking in hushed voices that only the other could hear.

"Hmm, they seem to be getting a little closer." Loki commented a little later as they watched Pepper and Tony dance before they stepped outside.

"They just need time." Vanessa said confidently one again slipping into a comfortable silence before speaking again. "So how go things on your end?"

"Well enough. Thor is as brash as always, running head long into danger." Loki said and went to relate one of their thrilling Thor induced adventures which had Vanessa giggling by the end.

"Miss Stark." One of the party organizers came up to her. "Some people are requesting that you sing. Will you?"

"Well that depends on my date." Vanessa said glancing up at Loki.

"I would love to hear you sing." Loki said with a smile. He escorted her up to the stage where she gave them instructions on what she wanted to sing. She turned back around facing the crowd as she took the mike stand in hand.

Vanessa swayed as the music started up then taking a deep breath she began to sing 'I Love You For Sentimental Reasons.' Her voice flowed with the music washing over the crowd who began to dance as other watched her. Vanessa swayed with the music as the instrumental interlude played sending a kiss to Loki who smiled back up at her with loving eyes. She poured all of her heart and soul into the ending of the song and finished softly. Everyone erupted in claps and cheers as Loki helped her off the stage.

"You were wonderful love." Loki said into her ear before kissing her on her cheek.

"Thank you, it helps when I have inspiration so close at hand." Vanessa said with a playful wink.

"How about a drink?" Loki asked looping her arm through his and resting his hand on top of hers.

"Love one." Vanessa said as he led her over to the bar and ordered two drinks. They talked back and forth a little more before Loki suddenly straightened up and let out an annoyed sound under his breath. "Something wrong?"

"Someone at home is looking for me, I must go." Loki said in an irritated voice.

"That's ok, we can pick up where we left off later." Vanessa said as she wrapped her arms around him and he her.

"Sounds like a plan." Loki said as he leaned down and kissed her deeply. "Until later, my little dove."

Vanessa watched with a dreamy happy smile as he walked away disappearing amongst the crowd. She was sipping her drink when Tony came up to the bar looking a little twitchy.

"Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast." Tony said putting some money into a jar. "Make one of them dirty, will you?"

"You look a little unsettled." Vanessa commented, startling Tony.

"Hey, where's your date?" Tony asked looking around as well as avoiding her question.

"He had to go. Family emergency." Vanessa said with a shrug.

"Wow. Tony and Vanessa Stark." Said a blonde woman Vanessa recognized from Vanity Fair.

"Oh, hey." Tony said looking uncomfortable. "Fancy seeing you here… Carrie."

"Christine." She corrected him.

"That's right." Tony said with a nod.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." Vanessa said with an overly sweet smile as she held out her hand.

"Christine from Vanity Fair, I did a story on your father." Christine said ignoring Vanessa's hand as she turned back to Tony. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction." Tony replied not making eye contact.

"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." Christine bit out.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you." Tony said evasively.

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker." Christine went on and Vanessa could feel her annoyance rising.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." Tony said in a snarky voice.

"So cut the column short and just spit it out." Vanessa snapped.

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine said as she thrust a small stack of pictures at them. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

"When were these taken?" Tony asked looking shaken.

"Yesterday." She answered.

"I didn't approve any shipment." Tony said as he looked over the pictures which included one of the Jericho missile.

"Well, your company did." Christine retorted.

"Well, I'm not my company." Tony snapped and stalked away looking really troubled. Vanessa turned back to Christine who had a triumphant smirk on her face which really irritated the crap out of Vanessa.

"You know they have a word for people like you, but it's not used in polite society outside of a kennel." Vanessa said evenly looking at Christine like she was something disgusting on the bottom of her shoe wiping the smirk clean off her face before following her dad out.

"Please, do you mind?" Obadiah was saying to the reporters as Vanessa came to stand next to her father.

"Have you seen these pictures?" Tony demanded. "What's going on in Gulmira?"

"Tony, Tony." Obadiah said as he looked between the two members of the Stark family. "You can't afford to be this naive."

"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, "Here's the line. We don't cross it. "This is how we do business."" Tony ground out and Vanessa began to feel sick to her stomach. "If we're double-dealing under the table... Are we?"

"Tony, your picture, please!" Someone called out.

"Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" Obadiah said as he wrapped his arms around both Tony and Vanessa. Vanessa could feel her skin crawl at his touch. "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you and your daughter."

Vanessa and Tony watched with a mixture of deepest anger and deepest betrayal as Obadiah walked away.


	11. Chapter 11

"The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness." The reported on TV said. They had turned it on as soon as they had changed and come down to the basement.

"Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant." Vanessa was sitting next to Tony as he adjusted the bolt on the wrist of his gauntlet waiting for him to explain his reaction to the name of the town.

"Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way." The reporter went on.

"With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia..." Her father suddenly stood up pointing his stabilizer and firing hitting a light fixture.

"Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?"" Tony started to take out the glass panes firing one shot after the other. "There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."

"Mute." Vanessa stood up and walked over to Tony who was starring angrily at the shattered remains of glass. She stood next to him arms crossed and waiting.

"The man who helped me escape, who saved my life, changed my life, was from that village." Tony said softly. He hadn't talked about his capture and Vanessa hadn't pressed him, not wanting him to relive those unpleasant months any more than he had to.

"What was his name?" Vanessa asked.

"Yinsen." Tony said causing Vanessa to startle. "You met him once."

"I remember, it was when I was ten at that New Year party." Vanessa said remembering the kind man who got her a root beer float.

"Yeah, he gave me some flak for that one." Tony said. "I have to do something."

"Then suit up, we have work to do." Vanessa said walking over to the computer station and started to start the system up.

"Thanks Vanessa." Tony said as he stepped into the center of the room and JARVIS started to suit him up.

"I've got your flight plan mapped out and up loaded. You're going in hot so be prepared." Vanessa said as she typed.

"Got it." Tony said as he took off out of the basement and into the sky. Vanessa prepared as he flew waiting for him to reach the town.

"I've pulled up an aerial view of the town." Vanessa said. "I'm sending it to you now."

"I've got it, I'm coming up to the town now." Tony said as he landed. She could hear the sounds of the fight over the comm. and was reminded of her own fights.

"I'm taking out my goggles." Vanessa said as she pulled out a slick silver case and set it on the desk quickly opening it up revealing a pair of goggles with built in headphones. She slipped them over her eyes and plugged them into the computer then turned them on. They allowed her to see what Tony was seeing as well as what he wasn't, so he literally had eyes in the back of his head.

"How are the goggles working?" Tony asked.

"Like a dream." Vanessa replied. The goggles not only allowed her to see what he was seeing but she could still work the computers as well. "On you back left!"

He took out most of them with his thrusters, but some of the men started to use body shields. A flap on his shoulder popped up as he automatically targeted the hostiles and took them out leaving the innocents unharmed.

"Where's the last one?" Tony said looking around.

"That wall over there to your right, he's on the other side." Vanessa said. Tony walked over and punched his fist through the wall grabbed the man and pulled him through the wall throwing him on the ground hard.

"He's all yours." Tony said as he took off in the air.

He flew over another part of the city looking over the Stark weapons that were there and was about to take them out when he was blown out of the sky.

"Dad?! What the heck was that?!" Vanessa said as he crawled out of a crater.

"A tank." Tony said as he stood up and it fired again barely missing him. "I think it's time to test the mini missile."

"Fire the m&m when ready." Vanessa replied excited to see if it worked. Tony raised his right arm and fired a tiny missile and then started to walk away a loud explosion erupting from behind. "Hey, I wanted to see the explosion."

"It's cooler to walk away from explosions." Tony said as he took out the remaining weapons.

"You are such a dork." Vanessa said shaking her head. "Now hurry up and come home, I'm hungry."

"On my way." Tony replied just before his phone started to ring. "Hello?"

"Tony?" Rhodey said trying to hear over the sound of the wind.

"Who's this?" Tony asked, trying to hear as well.

"It's Rhodes." Rhodey said.

"Sorry, hello?" Tony said.

"I said it's Rhodes." Rhodey said a little louder.

"Speak up, please." Tony said.

"What in the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down." Tony answered.

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now." Rhodey said.

"Por que?"Vanessa asked then slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Vanessa is that you?" Rhodey asked.

"Maybe, why do you ask?" Vanessa asked back and she could practically hear Rhodey rolling his eyes. "So what do you need help with?"

"It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony said.

"Hilarious." Vanessa said.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive." Rhodey said knowing that they were up to something.

"Really?" Vanessa said in a fake curious voice as she started to hack into the Air Force.

"Well, that's a hot spot." Tony said easily with a touch of smugness. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey asked more accusing than curious.

"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." Tony said quickly as Vanessa face palmed then got back to work on the computers and could now see what the Air Force was.

"I thought you were driving." Rhodey said in pure accusation.

"Right…" Tony trailed of.

"I was driving to the canyon, where dad was jogging to pick him up." Vanessa said then quickly added on to her story. "You're on three-way calling right now."

Being Loki's girlfriend came with its advantages.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" Rhodey asked right when Vanessa saw the two jets close in on her dad.

"Nope!" Tony and Vanessa answered.

"Bogey spotted! Whiplash, come in hot." Someone said in the background.

"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come." Rhodey said.

"Bye Rhodey." Vanessa said quickly hanging up. "Dad, get out of there, you got two jets closing in on you."

"On it." Tony said going supersonic, but the jets were still closing in.

"Oh shoot." Vanessa snapped. "Inbound missile."

"Flares!" Tony shouted the flares taking out the missiles. "Deploy flaps!"

"I'm calling Rhodey back." Vanessa said as the phone

"Hello?" Rhodey said.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me." Tony said.

"It's who?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm sorry, it is me." Tony said breathing hard. "You asked. What you were asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game." Rhodey started to get angry. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"Rhodey you don't understand, it's not a piece of equipment." Vanessa said desperately as she tried to think of what to do as she typed trying to get the jets away from her dad.

"I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" Tony yelled as Vanessa managed to hack into their comms.

"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" Someone asked.

"Mark your position and return to base." Jet one said.

"Roger that, Ballroom." Jet two replied. Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief then saw where her father was hiding. Then she realized the way the jets were turning in order to come back to base.

"Well crap." Vanessa said breathed out.

"On your belly!" Jet one said urgently. 'It looks like a man! Shake him off! Roll! Roll!" The jet went into a tight spin and Tony was thrown from the jet and into the other taking out the wing. "I'm hit! I'm hit!"

"It's confirmed. He has been hit."

"Punch out! Punch out!"

"Whiplash One down."

"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?"

"Negative! No chute, no chute!" The second jet said.

"My chute's jammed!" Jet one yelled.

"Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey." Jet two said.

"Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it."

"Dad, the second jet is going to re-engaging and the pilot it in a free fall, no chute." Vanessa said gripping the table white knuckled.

"I've got him." Tony said and started to dive for the pilot.

"Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at." Rhodey said. "Call off the Raptors."

"That thing just took out an F- inside a legal no fly zone! Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!"

"You've been reengaged." JARVIS confirmed

"Execute evasive maneuver." Tony ordered.

"Keep going! You're almost there." Vanessa urged. Tony grabbed the man and punched the chute box allowing it to deploy.

"Good chute! Good chute!"

"Thank goodness." Vanessa said as she collapsed in her chair and her father cheered.

"Tony, you still there? Vanessa?" Rhodey asked.

"Hey, thanks." Tony said as he flew.

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch." Rhodey said with a laugh. "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, well, technically, he hit me." Tony said with a laugh.

"Hope you have good insurance." Vanessa added.

"Now are you going to come by and see what we're working on?" Tony asked.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better." Rhodey said still out of breathe. "Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise." Tony said easily. "Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple." Rhodey said.

"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday." Rhodey said on the TV.

"Well look at that, apparently it is that easy." Vanessa said as she stood in front of the TV.

"I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved." Rhodey went on to say

"Hey!" Tony said drawing her attention away from the TV and back over to him. He was currently trying to get out of the suit with little to no luck.

"It is a tight fit, sir." JARVIS said. "Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle." Tony said. "This is my first time."

"Get a room." Vanessa said with a roll of her eyes that went wide upon spotting Pepper coming into the room.

"I designed this to come off, so... Hey. I really should be able to..." Tony said still struggling.

"Please, try not to move, sir." JARVIS said.

"What's going on here?" Pepper asked in a shocked voice. Tony turned to her as best as he could as JARVIS continued to try and remove the suit.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." Tony finally said breaking the silence.

"Are those bullet holes?" Pepper asked as Vanessa tried to sneak away, but before she could pass Pepper grabbed her and pulled her back in.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey. You busy?" Tony asked, finally out of the suit and sitting at the computer station with Vanessa. Both had been read the right act by Pepper and had given her time to cool down. "You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip." Tony handed her a USB. "This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading. Vanessa will go with you so if there any trouble, just ask her."

"We'll be in and out." Vanessa said confidently. "No problem."

"And what do you plan to do with this information if we bring it back here?" Pepper asked as Vanessa grabbed her red leather jacket pulling over her black tank top. She also wore a pair of dark skinny jeans that tucked into ankle high heelless boots with bronze studs.

"Same drill." Tony said. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again." Pepper said shaking her head as she put the USB down.

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign." Tony said getting worked up. "There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Is that so?" Pepper said. "Well, then, I quit."

Vanessa felt the air go tense and the awkwardness sat in as she switched from foot to foot watching the two go at it.

"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" Tony said stiffly.

"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it." Pepper argued.

"I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason." Tony said. "I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."

Silence fell as a look of understanding settled on Peppers face. She picked the USB and looked from Vanessa then back to Tony.

"You and Vanessa are all I have, too, you know." Pepper said before she turned and walked out followed by Vanessa.


	13. Chapter 13

Vanessa drove them to Stark industries and parked near the front. They walked in and rode the elevator up to the top floor.

"Everyone should be out for lunch right now." Vanessa said as the doors dinged opened and they were rewarded with an abandoned office floor. They quickly walked into the main office after checking to see if it too was clear. Vanessa stood behind Pepper as she got on the computer and plugged in Tony's USB then started to search the files.

"Sector 16? What are you up to, Obadiah?" Pepper said softly as she looked over all of the different information in the files.

"Click on that one." Vanessa said and a video of her father in captivity came onto the screen. She leaned over Pepper and typed in translate.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark as you can see, Obadiah Stane..."

"Oh, my God." Pepper and Vanessa said at the same time. The room started to shake as Vanessa gripped the back of Pepper's chair hard her anger boiling violently inside of her.

"Vanessa, you need to stay calm." Pepper said placing a comforting hand over Vanessa's who managed to stop the room from shaking and calm down a bit.

"Sorry." Vanessa gritted out.

"... your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

Pepper clicked out of the video and started to copy everything down.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Obadiah's voice asked causing them to startle. It took every ounce of Vanessa will power not to smash him repeatedly into a wall as he walked over and made himself a drink. "I know what you're both going through." Obadiah said as he swirled his drink and took a hit. "Tony. He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?"

"Why not, he can afford it." Vanessa said carefully as she sat down on the desk moving the paper over the USB discreetly and making sure she was between Obadiah and Pepper at all times. Pepper switched the computer over to the screensavers hiding the copying that was still taking place.

"I was so happy when he came home." Obadiah continued. "It was like we got him back from the dead. Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart."

Vanessa tensed as he walked over on the other side of Pepper.

"Well, he's a complicated person." Pepper said tensely. "He's been through a lot. I think he'll be all right."

"You are a very rare woman." Obadiah said looking from Pepper to Vanessa. "Tony doesn't know how lucky he is to have you both."

"Thank you." Pepper said as she took the paper and USB at the same time standing to her feet. "Thanks. We'd better get back there."

"Catch you later Obi." Vanessa said as she followed Pepper to the door, her voice sounding more like a promise than a good bye.

"Is that today's paper?" Asked right before they reached the door.

"Yes." Pepper said as he walked over to them.

"Do you mind?" Obadiah said taking the paper.

"Not at all." Pepper said.

"Puzzle." Obadiah said with a smile.

"Of course." Pepper said with a nod.

"Take care." Obadiah said as they left. Vanessa made sure the door closed behind them as she rushed Pepper to the elevator and down the stairs reaching the lobby. Looking up she saw Obadiah starring down at them, he knew.

"Pepper, he knows, we need to get out of here." Vanessa said taking hold of Pepper practically pulling her along.

"Ms. Potts? We had an appointment." Never in all of her life had Vanessa been so glad to see Phil Coulson. "Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Nope, right now. Come with me." Pepper said also relieved.

"Right now?" Coulson said standing up and following. "We're going to have it right now."

"Yeah, walk with us." Pepper said.

"Okay." Coulson said still confused, but willing to wait for answers.

"I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office." Pepper said as they walked.

Once they were clear of the building and had calmed down Vanessa pulled out her phone and dialed for her dad. He answered, but then a high frequency note sounded and nothing else.

"Dad? Dad, are you there? Hello?" Vanessa called out desperately, but then the phone went dead. She re-dialed, but got nothing. She dialed a different number and was answered right away.

"Rhodey!" Vanessa said gratefully into the phone.

"What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed?" Rhodey asked as he listened to Vanessa. "Vanessa, slow down. Why would Obadiah... Okay, where's Tony now?"

"I don't know. He's not answering his phone." Vanessa said urgently. "Please go over there and make sure everything's okay." Vanessa paused listening to the answer. "Thank you, Rhodey." Vanessa hung up. "Rhodey's going to him now, but we need to get to Obadiah now and find out what he's up to."

"I know a shortcut." Pepper said and instructed Phil who was driving where to go. They arrived outside of the arc reactor and walked in.

"Section 16. Section 16. There it is." Pepper said walking over to the door and trying to open it with her card. "My key's not working. It's not opening the door." Phil came up and put a tiny black box on the door's lock. "Oh, wow! What's that? It's, like, a little device? It's, like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?"

"You might want to take a few steps back." Phil said as he pulled her over to the other agents. Rolling her eyes Vanessa reached out and placed a small shield over the lock bomb containing the blast.

They walked over opening the door and the agents poured inside. They walked down a flight of stairs to another unlocked door and cautiously entered guns ready. It was dark with chains hanging everywhere. An eerie blue white low light was the only illumination. They spread out looking over the room coming up to a crude suit.

"Looks like you were right. He was building a suit." Phil said looking it over. Vanessa looked closely at it realizing that something was off as she ran her fingers of the welding.

"I thought it'd be bigger." Pepper said.

"Something isn't right." Vanessa grumbled looking around until her eyes landed on a small computer and Agent was currently looking at.

"What's wrong?" Pepper asked.

"That's not factory welding, the whole suit it to crude to have been made here." Vanessa said as she walked over to the computer and started to type furiously. The others continued to look around for clues as Vanessa typed then her eyes widened in shock. "That wasn't the suit."

"What?" The agent next to her asked.

"That wasn't the suit." Vanessa snapped just as Pepper let out a scream. "Pepper!"

Vanessa ran over to her grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the facility as the agents shot at Obadiah. With her shields up she ran getting Pepper out just before Obadiah could get to them, having been too big for the door, once outside Pepper and Vanessa's earpieces rang.

"Vanessa! Pepper!" Tony called out.

"Dad." Vanessa said in relief.

"Tony, are you okay?" Pepper asked.

"I'm fine. How are..." Tony started to ask.

"Obadiah, he's gone insane!" Pepper said cutting him off.

"I know." Tony said. "Listen, you'd better get out of there."

"He built a suit." Vanessa said running a hand through her hair. Then the ground started to rumble as Obadiah forced his way up through the ground next to them.

"Get out of there right now!" Tony ordered.

"Where do you think you're going?" Obadiah said as he held out a large machine gun arm. "Your services are no longer required and one less freak in the world."

"Pepper, go, I can hold him off." Vanessa said as she formed her shield and got ready to fight.

"I'm not leaving you here!" Pepper said.

"I can handle myself now GO!" Vanessa snapped but Pepper didn't budge.

"So much for the little hero." Obadiah said and got ready to fire.

"Stane!" Tony yelled as Stane fired shifting from the girls to Tony, some of the bullets bouncing off of Vanessa's shield. Tony rammed into Stane and they crashed through the facility and into the highway.

"I love this suit!" Obadiah said as he listed a van over his head.

"Put them down!" Tony ordered.

"Collateral damage, Tony." Obadiah said.

"Divert power to chest RT." Tony blasted him back and caught the car.

"Power reduced to 19 percent." JARVIS said as Tony fell to one knee. The lady started to take off with Tony clinging to the hood.

"Lady!" Tony yelled, but she kept on driving until he fell and was dragged under the van. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Finally he came rolling out from under the car and skidded to a stop. Obadiah ran over to him using his rocket for a boost grabbed a passing motorcycle and his Tony with it. Then he proceeded to bash Tony into the ground.

"For 30 years, I've been holding you up!" Obadiah said. "I built this company from nothing! Nothing is going to stand in my way." Obadiah threw him into a bus. "Least of all you!" He blew the bus up and Tony was propelled into the air, but managed to catch himself midair. "Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!"

"Sir, it appears that his suit can fly." JARVIS said as Obadiah's suit started to take off.

"Duly noted." Tony said. "Take me to maximum altitude."

"With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that..." JARVIS started warn him.

"I know the math! Do it!" Tony ordered as they took off with Obadiah closing in.

"Thirteen percent power, sir." JARVIS said.

"Climb!" Tony urged shooting higher into the air.

"Eleven percent." JARVIS said.

"Keep going!" Tony replied.

"Seven percent power." JARVIS said.

"Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!" Tony said and was suddenly grabbed by his leg and pulled into Obadiah's grip.

"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!" Obadiah bragged.

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony asked.

"Icing problem?" Obadiah repeated as his suit went dead.

"Might want to look into it." Tony said as he hit Obadiah on top of the head sending him hurtling back to earth. Suddenly he began to drop as well.

"Two percent." JARVIS said as Tony began an awkward stop and go descent. "We are now running on emergency backup power."

Her stumblingly landed on the roof of the arc reactor and started to take the suit off.

"Potts! Nessa!" Tony said.

"Tony! Oh, my God, are you okay?" Pepper asked as she and Vanessa shared relieved looks.

"Where are you?" Vanessa asked.

"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there." Tony said when Obadiah suddenly landed behind him.

"Nice try!" Obadiah said. Tony ducked the first punch and went to fire his stabilizer forgetting that he had taken it off before he was back handed. Recovering quickly he jumped into the air landing a punch across Obadiah's face only to get grabbed in the process.

"Weapons status?" Tony ordered.

"Repulsors offline. Missiles offline." JARVIS listed off.

"Flares!" Tony yelled and the flares shot out blinding Obadiah and giving Tony a chance to slip away.

"Very clever, Tony." Obadiah said as Tony hid on the other side of the stairwell.

"Nessa? Potts?" Tony whispered.

"Dad/ Tony!" They said in relief.

"This isn't working." Tony said. "We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"Well, how are you going to do that?" Pepper asked.

"You're going to do it." Tony replied. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here.

"On it." Vanessa said then pulled Pepper back into the building and up to the controls and got to work. "Pepper, flip those toggles up over there." Pepper ran over to the machines against the wall doing as she was told before coming back. "Almost done."

"Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time." Tony said as he came up behind Obadiah and ripped out some wires. "This looks important!"

Obadiah managed to grab Tony despite the hindrance and through him on the glass panes. Obadiah held up Tony's helmet which he had snatched during the struggle.

"I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!" Obadiah said as he crushed the helmet and through over to Tony who was struggling to get up. "You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!"

"It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!" Pepper said as Tony struggled to his feet. Suddenly there was a spray of bullet fire and glass rained down on Pepper and Vanessa. Vanessa covered them with her shield and looked up fearfully to see her dad dangling on the frame. "Tony!"

"How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!" Obadiah laughed.

"Nessa! Pepper!" Tony called out.

"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" Obadiah said as he fired a missile that missed. "You ripped out my targeting system!"

"Time to hit the button!" Tony yelled.

"You told me not to!" Pepper said.

"Hold still, you little prick!" Obadiah snarled.

"Just do it!" Tony yelled nearly falling.

"You'll die!" Pepper said.

"Not if I can help it." Vanessa said as she started to levitate.

"Where are you going?!" Pepper called out as Vanessa flew up.

"To save my dad." Vanessa said taking off.

"Push it!" Tony yelled and Pepper pushed the button as Vanessa shot up into the air grabbing her dad and forming a shield around them just as the arc reactor over load hit sending them both flying.

Obadiah was electrocuted and fell down into the reactor causing it to explode. Vanessa lay on top of Tony putting all of her will power into her shields as Tony held her close. The blast ripped through them, minimized by the shielding, but still painful leaving them both unconscious.

"Tony! Vanessa!" Pepper called out.


	14. Chapter 14

"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff..." Rhodey said on the TV as Tony read from a new paper and Pepper fixed up his face to look less beat up. Vanessa who had received a cut on her forehead was wearing a grey fedora to hide it. The rest of her injuries were hidden under a long sleeved grey dress and black tights with black high heels on her feet,

""Iron Man." That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative the imagery, anyway." Tony said as Pepper painfully peeled off a band aid.

"As if your ego wasn't big enough." Vanessa said as she read over his shoulder twiddling with her necklace. "It doesn't even say anything about the awesome girl who saved your butt."

"Yeah, I'm the one with the ego." Tony said rolling his eyes as Coulson walked in.

"Here's your alibi." Coulson said handing him the note cards.

"Okay." Tony said.

"You were on your yacht." Coulson said.

"Yeah." Tony said, nodding along.

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests." Coulson said.

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island and you could come up with another one for Vanessa." Tony said then yelped when Vanessa thumped him on the back of his head and Pepper ripped off another band aid rather harshly.

"That's what happened." Coulson said sternly.

"All right." Tony said.

"Just read it, word for word." Coulson said.

"There's nothing about Stane here." Tony said.

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." Coulson said with a smirk.

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony said making a face. "He's my... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark." Coulson said.

"It's called misdirection, they're just hoping no one looks to close." Vanessa said with a smirk.

"Right." Coulson said then turned back to Tony. "Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds."

"Agent Coulson?" Pepper called out stopping Coulson from walking away. "I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help."

"That's what we do." Phil said. "You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland..." Pepper said.

"Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D." Phil said with a smile.

"Nice." Vanessa said with a thumbs up.

"Right." Pepper said with a nod. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I'll see you guys out there." Vanessa said as she to left and caught up to Phil looping her arms with his as they walked. They came into the main room where all sort of reporters were gathered stood in the back waiting for Tony to come out.

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." Rhodey said stepping aside for Tony.

"Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." Tony said gaining a small amount of laughter. "There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you..." Christine interrupted him.

"I know that it's confusing." Tony said cutting her off. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

"I never said you were a superhero." Christine said making Vanessa grumble under her breath.

"Sure you can't…" Vanessa said gesturing to Christine.

"No." Coulson said with a small smirk making Vanessa pout.

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly." Tony said getting away from the cars. "With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

"Just stick to the cards, man." Rhodey whispered pulling him aside.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah." Tony said straightening back up. "The truth is…"

"Uh oh." Vanessa said, knowing what was about to happen.

"I am Iron Man." Tony said and like that the media went hay wire. Vanessa looked over at a tight jawed Phil.

"Scale from one to ten, how much trouble is he in?" Vanessa asked. Phil made eye contact briefly before walking away and making a call as Vanessa let out a low whistle.


	15. Chapter 15

"Jarvis!" Tony called out as he and Vanessa walked in. Normally they were greeted by him as soon as the door opened.

"Welcome home..." JARVIS cut out.

"JARVIS? You ok?" Vanessa asked as they walked into the living room where they saw the silhouette of a man looking out the wall of window facing the sea.

""I am Iron Man." You think you're the only superhero in the world?" A voice said stopping them in their tracks. "Mr. Stark, you and your daughter have become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony demanded as he and Vanessa tensed.

"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." The man said turning around to reveal the features of a very intimidating man with a black eye patch. "I'm here to talk to both you and Vanessa about the Avenger Initiative."


	16. Chapter 16

Vanessa walked down the busy streets of New York city on her way to a practice for her role as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She had been super excited to get the role to play her favorite story book character. She was reading over the script she already knew by heart when she was suddenly knocked off her feet by someone running.

"What the heck?!" Vanessa snapped barely able to stop herself from using her powers in the view of so many.

"I am so sorry ma'am." The one who ran into her said as he scrambled over to her and helped her up.

"Johnny? What the crud?" Vanessa said as she looked up at 'Johnny' or who she assumed him to be. She reached out poking one of his massive arms with a surprised look. "Holy crap, did you take steroids or something?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about, my names not Johnny." He said as he glanced around himself.

"Oh, sorry it's just you look exactly like…are you ok?" Vanessa asked noticing his distressed look and that's when the black cars surrounded them, agents pouring out creating a perimeter. "Well crap."

"At ease, soldier." Fury said as he stepped out of the car.

"Ok, whatever my dad did is your problem, I'm only his daughter I can only do so much." Vanessa said as she ran a hand through her hair. "So what has he done?"

"This isn't about your dad, it's about him." Fury said looking to the man next to Vanessa. "Look I'm sorry about that little show back there, but. We thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?" The man asked.

"You've been asleep, Cap." Fury replied. "For almost seventy years."

The man looked shocked to his core, his breathing quickening. Vanessa was confused for a moment then it hit her.

"Captain America?" She asked gesturing with her thumb to Steve looking to Fury who nodded. Vanessa let out a low whistle as she looked to the man and gently placed a hand on his arm. "I am so sorry, are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah." He breathed out glancing down at her. "Yeah, just... I had a date."


	17. Chapter 17

Vanessa went on to practice as SHIELD took care of Steve, but not before Fury took her aside asking her to come by the facility after her rehearsals were over. She was now walking into said building going through vigorous security checks.

"Miss Stark." Fury said as he walked up to her.

"Director Fury." Vanessa replied with a smile. "What's up?"

"I have a job for you." Fury said gesturing for her to follow him as he walked down the hall. "Cpt. Rogers is going to need some help getting comfortable with his new surroundings and I'm tasking you with helping him."

"Really? Ok sure." Vanessa nodded, seeing no problem with it. "You want him to move in with my dad and me?"

"I'd rather not have those two together until it is necessary." Fury replied giving her a look that she understood all too well.

"I see your point." Vanessa nodded. Those two were opposites on the human spectrum, it would be like WW3 if those two got together without a common goal.

"We already have a place for him to stay, we just need you to get him up to date." Fury said as they stopped in front of a door.

"Ok, I can do that." Vanessa nodded before Fury knocked on the door. She could hear someone crossing the room and then Steve opened the door looking pretty tired.

"Director Fury, ma'am." He greeted them allowing them into the room.

"Cpt. Rogers this is Vanessa Stark." Fury said getting a look of surprise from Steve.

"Any relation to Howard?" Steve asked as they shook hands.

"My grandfather, not that I ever really met him." Vanessa said with a shrug.

"Miss Stark will be in charge of getting you up to date with today. She'll show you around and teach you what you need to know." Fury said as Vanessa bounced on her heels. "I'll leave you two to get acquainted then we can get a car and take Cpt. Rogers to his apartment."

"Yes sir." Vanessa said with a salute biting her lip trying not to laugh.

"Sometimes you're a little too much like your dad." Fury said as he left the room. Vanessa took a seat at a small table in the room, Steve pulling the seat out for her before taking the on across from her.

"So you knew my grandpa?" Vanessa asked looking over to him.

"Yes, I did." Steve said with a nod.

"What was he like?" Vanessa asked.

"He was really smart and a bit of a flirt." Steve said and told her about some of his interactions with her grandfather, the fondue story really got her laughing.

"He sounds a lot like my dad." Vanessa said with a small laugh. Then she really looked him over. "You know you look exactly like Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four?"

"Who?" He asked in confusion. Vanessa took her phone from her bag. She flipped through it until she found a picture of Johnny and showed it to him.

"It's un-canny." Vanessa said as Steve taking the phone and starring at the picture in amazement, for the fact of what it was on as well as the picture of Johnny Storm. "I didn't know Captain America had kids."

"I don't, I mean it's impossible, I've never even…" He came to an abrupt stop, his ears turning bright red making Vanessa giggle.

"Oh, well I guess physical similarities are bound to repeat over time and don't worry, so am I." Vanessa said with a wink making Steve blush even harder. "Unlike my father I believe in saving it for after marriage."

"It changed." Steve said having accidently touched the screen. Looking down the picture which was a group photo of her friends and teachers at school his eyes widened in shock. "James?"

"Who?" Vanessa asked as she looked at the picture as well, not remembering a James. Steve pointed to Logan. "That's Logan, he also goes by Wolverine." Then her eyes widened. No one, not even Logan knew how old he really was. "Holy crap, you knew him!"

"I probably knew his grandfather." Steve said shaking his head.

"No you don't understand. Logan is a mutant with uncharted healing abilities and it slowed his aging, but somewhere along the line he lost his memory. He only has bits and pieces left." Vanessa said shocking Steve. "This is great! You might be able to help him through some of his memories."

"Well I don't know much about him. We only fought a few battles together with his brother Victor." Steve said.

"He had a brother? Well he certainly didn't know that so it's a start. Maybe you can come with me to the school and talk to him." Vanessa said hopefully.

"I'd like that; it'd be nice to see a familiar face." Steve said with a smile. "Even if we didn't always see eye to eye."

There was a knock on the door again and an agent told them that the car was ready. She rode with him to his new apartment and went through the basics of the home before they said good night. From then on Vanessa would take Steve out show him around, and teach him how to use the technology. He was doing really well, but it was like prying teeth to get him to interact with the new world.


	18. Chapter 18

"So how is the soldier out of time?" Loki asked as they walked along a beach hand in hand.

The sand was soft white and the water was crystal clear. To their right were flowing waves and to their left was a golden field. Loki was in a simple green tunic and loose brown pants while Vanessa wore a long blue halter top backless scarf dress, both of them bare foot.

"Don't get me wrong he's doing ok, but sometimes it's hard. If he wasn't such a gentleman I swear I would have smacked him upside the head already." Vanessa replied shaking her head. "He so antisocial sometimes, I can barely drag him out to the institute sometimes."

"Sounds fun." Loki smarted off then tried to look indifferent. "So he hasn't tried to...flirt with you or anything?"

"Nope, he's been the perfect gentlemen." Vanessa replied with a smile.

"You spend a lot of time with him." Loki commented.

"Because he needs help." Vanessa said as she watched the tide come in.

"And he is rather handsome." Loki said and that got her attention.

"Not as handsome as you." Vanessa said making Loki smile. "Especially when you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Loki replied defensively.

"Right." Vanessa rolled her eyes nudging him making him stumble a bit. This caused a nudging war until Vanessa ran ahead of him as fast as she could Loki quickly giving chase. Then she suddenly tripped on something and went flying landing in the soft sand.

"Only you could find a way to trip in a dream." Loki said with a chuckle.

Vanessa replied by sticking her tongue out at him as she stood to her feet only to come face to face with Loki's mischievous grin right before he picked her up and through her over his shoulder.

"Hey! Abuse!" Vanessa mock yelled.

"This is not; I'm just picking you up." Loki replied with a smile.

"Threatened, I feel threatened!" Vanessa continued.

"Is that so?" Loki asked as he shifted her around until he was carrying her princess style.

"I demand to know where you are taking me sir." Vanessa said with a fake pout. Vanessa noticed Loki staring at her lips which made the butterflies in her stomach take wing.

"Oh I think I know exactly where I want to take you." Loki replied as he leaned down, his lips brushing her ear. The she followed his gaze to a beautiful canopy of flowing whit material where a small fire was burning in front of a large fainting couch.

"I love you." Vanessa said turning back to him, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"I love you as well." Loki replied before deepening the kiss as he made his way over to the fire, Vanessa still held lovingly in his arms.


End file.
